Piece in the Evening Standard today about a £1.2 million Council house in Chelsea being boarded up and left empty for several weeks. Kensington and Chelsea Council say they have to do repairs before they can place tenants there. Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers Alliance says the delay is "obscene" given the waiting list.

But surely they are all missing the point. It is bonkers to have a house worth this much used for social housing. It should be sold. According to the Empty Homes Agency there are 56 empty Council homes in K&C, which is pretty low even as a ratio. But wouldn't £1.2 million help clear the backlog of repairs to bring those back into use and thus help rather more families currently on the waiting list?